Oil City Origins is a brand-new feature series from Oil City News that tells the stories of Casper business owners who have demonstrated grit, determination and perseverance as they built their companies from the ground up to lay a foundation and to become highly successful pillars of the community.
Relationships are important to Matthew Smith. They have been for a long time. So when he decided to leave his previous job to start his own company with friend and mentor Jon Trujillo, he did so with the idea that relationships would be their biggest priority — maintaining current relationships and creating new ones.
In the eight years since the inception of Alliance Communication & Technologies, that is exactly what Smith and his team have done.
Alliance Communication is a full-service surveillance and security provider in Wyoming and beyond that, according to its website, offers “turn-key security solutions, custom designed for your industrial, commercial, and residential needs anywhere in the Rocky Mountain Region.”
The company offers a variety of security services, including intrusion systems, cameras and access control, as well as fire alarms, data cabling, system design, fiber optics and more. Alliance is one of the biggest security camera dealers in Wyoming and while the company does work with private homes, it primarily services commercial and industrial facilities throughout Wyoming, Colorado and more.
Alliance Communication & Technologies is the brainchild of Matthew Smith and Jon Trujillo, two Casper men who worked together previously off and on and who wanted to create something that focused on integrity, on assurance and, yes, on relationships.
“I was working as a salesman at a different company,” Smith said, “and I was loving the paycheck and loving the work, but I didn’t so much like working for said company because my reputation started to get to a point where I would work on getting a customer’s business. And after I got their business, as soon as there was an issue, I had to give them a 1-800 number to address any issues, and I couldn’t do anything about it.”
Smith said that he hated the fact that he had to “pawn off” legitimate questions of his customers to a corporate hotline, because he wanted to actually help them. That’s how he’s always operated, and it got more and more frustrating with each customer that he had to pass on to an automated teller.
Smith said that an acquaintance called him one day and made him an offer that he couldn’t refuse.
“Jon Trujillo happened to call me on the right day at the right time,” Smith laughed. “Jon and I knew each other. I helped him with various issues during my previous jobs, and he said, ‘Hey, I keep giving work to these other low-voltage houses; do you want to start our own business?'”
Smith knew a bit about the world of security. He had previously worked for another local company, which introduced him to the world of home security. He learned a lot in a relatively short amount of time and he also had experience as an electrician. Combine that with the frustrations of his current job, and Smith told Trujillo that he had a deal.
“I took him up on the opportunity,” he said. “We started in May of 2016, and that was it. We discussed a partnership and what that would look like. At first, the percentages of that partnership were different, but in terms of the work being done and the connections being made, it was very much a 100/100 partnership.”
“Jon had a really good reputation,” Smith stated. “He was young and he had a lot of new, different ideas for business and I liked that. And he gave me a very long leash to try different things. He took care of all of the financial stuff, and that first month we were in the red but by month two, we were in the black. And we haven’t had an issue since.”
Smith said that the reason for their success, more than anything, was that both men knew how important it was to maintain good relationships — with each other, with their employees and with their customers.
“I didn’t realize how important it was that I had relationships already built with a lot of people,” Smith said. “You could be the best at your job, but if nobody wants to work with you, it doesn’t mean anything. People work with people they like. And so I was able to piggyback off of a lot of relationships that Jon already had, and a lot of the relationships that I had made, and I was able to get juiced in pretty quickly. We got three big projects our second year in business that really put us on the map. We got the Wonder Bar, the Pump Room and The Branding Iron, all at the same time.”
Those three projects “launched us into the stratosphere,” Smith said.
For the last eight years, the company has flourished. Alliance Communication & Technologies quickly went from a two-man operation to a team as large as 15 people at times. Currently, Alliance has about seven or eight employees, and they work with other skilled contractors in their specialized fields as well.
“We’ve learned that subcontracting is very beneficial for our business,” Smith said. “It allows us to do more projects quicker, and it allows us to control cost. More than that, I just really like helping people who want to go out and start their own thing. One, because it benefits us and allows us to have more tools in the toolbox, but it also gives other people a chance to work on something that they may not have had the opportunity to do elsewhere.”
Additionally, the employees of Alliance have the opportunity to hold partial ownership of the company — a way for Smith to “pay it forward” because of the opportunity he received from Trujillo.
“I’m incredibly grateful for Jon taking a risk on me,” Smith shared, “and so I felt that I should kind of pay that forward. My employees deserve that. Tim Ahumuza has been with me since, basically, day one. He’s a rock-solid technician who I’ve personally seen, at a training course we attended, end up practically teaching the class with the instructor’s blessing.
“Austyn Watson, who is in sales, will move heaven and earth to ensure our clients’ needs are being met. Destiny Smith is the missing puzzle piece that we’ve been looking for in the office; she is the glue that holds this place together. As soon as she came on board, I knew I had my team. They’re all vital to this company, and I’m giving them part of the ownership; going forward our focus is the solutions we offer to our clients, customer service and brand expansion.”
Expanding is exactly what Alliance Communication & Technologies has done. Smith said that his goal is to “get down the I-25 corridor,” and he’s doing just that. Alliance has an office in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, and it has quietly expanded into several other parts of the blue mountain state. That’s in addition to the countless Wyoming cities that Alliance has serviced customers in.
“Name a town, and we’re there,” Smith said of the company’s Wyoming coverage. The expansion of Alliance Communication — its success — is due to a number of different factors: work ethic, innovation and commitment to a job well done. But perhaps the biggest reason for Alliance’s continued growth in Wyoming and beyond is the simple fact that they care about people. They care about their customers. They care about their employees. They care about their neighbors. That’s how it was from day one, and that is how it will continue to be, as long as Smith is in charge.
“No business is one man,” Smith offered. “No man is an island and nothing happens in a vacuum. And it’s my team that makes all the difference. The best marketing comes from referrals and word of mouth. I’ve got to look these people in the eye. I’ve gotta walk around with these people. I like that I can go to bed every night knowing I didn’t screw anybody over. Doing the right thing costs money, I’ll tell you that, and I’ve gotten kicked in the teeth trying to do the right thing. But I would much rather do that than give a s— about some bank ledger balance.”
To be clear, Smith cares about whether his company makes money or not. But that’s the key to a successful business: If you care about people and you do a good job, everything else will fall into place. The success will happen, the money will come. That’s exactly what has happened with Alliance Communication & Technologies and as long as building and maintaining relationships continues to be the priority, the company will continue to be a roaring success.
“I believe in the power of partnerships because I got lucky with it,” Smith said. “I am excited about the future and the team that we’re building. This job is about the people, a hundred percent. It’s about relationships. Regardless of the size of the project or scope, we’re here for everyone.”
To find out more about Alliance Communication & Technologies or to schedule an appointment, visit their website or call 307-333-6699.
If you would like your business to be featured as a story in Oil City Origins, reach out to Nick Perkins at Nick@upslope.media.
PAID FOR BY ALLIANCE COMMUNICATION & TECHNOLOGIES
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